Private text messages that were recently posted on social media reveals a behind the scenes look at the reaction of the Jeremy Matlow campaign when they realized their efforts to conceal the use of a fake Facebook page was about to be exposed.
Matlow campaign manager Kristellys Estanga, who resigned on Friday amid the controversy, said she acted alone. However, the text messages tell a different story.
“We are Confused”
Thursday afternoon, hours after the “Tallahassee Conservatives” Facebook page had been activated, a social media post revealed the name of the Facebook page had been changed from “Pause the TMH Deal – Vote No on Dec 10” to “Tallahassee Conservatives”.
Following this revelation, Darryl Alfred, a candidate for Tallahassee City Commission Seat 3 texted Matlow campaign manager Estanga with a screen shot documenting the sudden name change of the Facebook page asking about the change.
Alfred texted, “Before I comment, wtf?”
Estanga replied: I have no idea. Idk how she got that supposed screen shot or how Jeremy’s name got on it. We looked everywhere from all angles and couldn’t find what she posted. And how it is linked to me is even more perplexing. Thanks for checking in before u comment. We are as confused as anyone. (Emphasis added)
Interestingly, Estanga’s response used “I” when referring to herself and “we” when referring to the campaign.
Estanga used “we” twice in describing the campaign’s efforts to figure out what was going on as more people on social media were discovering the Facebook page was fake.
These text messages are inconsistent with the Matlow campaign statement that Estanga acted alone. In addition, sources have told TR that the Matlow campaign had been discussing the political operation for weeks leading up to the Facebook page name change.
TR is gathering documents that show the seeds for the political operation began over a year ago, before Estanga was a part of the Matlow team.
Stay tuned for the documents as this investigation continues.
Estanga Text Message
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